THE job title is very different these days, but the topics of conversation remain the same for Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Notts County’s trip to Bradford in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tonight may be uppermost in his mind given his new role as director of football there, but penalty shoot-outs, WAGs and England’s World Cup aspirations continue to dominate the agenda.

“This is like old times,” he said yesterday as he stepped back into the media glare. Yet Eriksson believes the future for England can be very different from the recent past.

If he is still irked by the notion his tenure in charge of the national team was nothing less than a major letdown, fuelled by his mishandling of the so-called ‘Golden Generation’, he does not let his bitterness show.

Instead, he believes the peaks England’s finest were supposed to scale under him are now within sight for Fabio Capello.

“Experience in big tournaments is key,” said Eriksson. “Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard are at the right age, Wayne Rooney is better and more experienced.

“As always, England will need not to have many injuries and to have their big players in the best shape in June. But I am confident for them.

“Mental strength is very important. To win a World Cup you must be strong in every area, mentally as well. But if you look at the squad, some of the key players have already been to two or three tournaments – and that’s a very big thing for England.”

Tournaments that Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard have been to, however, have brought only heartache and disappointment.

Eriksson never managed to get further than a quarter-final of a major competition, the penalty defeat by Portugal in 2006 in Gelsenkirchen a painful reminder of how close England were to something tangible and at the same time so far away. He is not someone who would seem to harbour regret, so it is something of a surprise that he admits he wishes he had paid greater attention to penalty shoot-outs in the build-up to Germany, especially having watched his side die a similar death against the same opposition in Euro 2004.

Yet suggest that the WAGs were responsible for derailing England’s hopes three years ago and Eriksson bristles with indignation, before smiling at Capello’s portrayal as the iron man for banning players’ partners from South Africa other than the day after a game.

“It [the WAGs] shouldn’t have made an impact,” said Eriksson. “England were not different from any other country in the world. The Swedes did the same as we did. The Germans. Everyone.

“It’s a stupid excuse, isn’t it? The WAGs were invited when I thought it was the right occasion to do it, and that didn’t happen very often. So that’s not an excuse. It had absolutely nothing to do with the football.

“My time with England was great fun, every day, and I loved the five and a half years I had. I was very proud of what we did. I’m sorry we didn’t reach a semi-final or a final, but that’s life. If I could have changed one thing it would have been to prepare for penalties, especially the last World Cup. But if that would have helped a lot, you never know.”

Eriksson is sure, however, on his former skipper David Beckham’s continuing value to England. Beckham will be 35 when the World Cup begins, but Eriksson has few doubts that he is still worth a place.

“Why not? He’s 34, and that’s not too old,” he added. “If David is going to play or be picked, I don’t know. But if he is picked, it would be no surprise.

“I’d take him but I don’t know what’s going to happen in January. Is he going to Milan? If so, that would be perfect for him, for Milan and for England.” ‘Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney are all used to big events’